The AI Challenge Feature is a global feature available to the NSC Control Player in the NSC Feature Menu, which can be turned on and off at any time without consequence. The AI Challenge Feature allows all normal AI empires inside your campaign to keep up with you in terms of military ship/station class technology.

This means, if activated, this feature will, every new year, check to see if you (or an randomly assigned player in multiplayer) have a new military ship or station class tech, for example Frigates are the first new tech after game start, and if said player does, then every regular AI empire that doesn’t have the Frigate technology will receive it.

This process applies throughout the entire game as long as the AI Challenge Feature is active. The purpose of this feature is to ensure NSC Players who think the AI never builds NSC Capital Ships or wants to make sure that they do build such ships, that the AI has zero excuse for not having the technology necessary to unlock any ship/station classes the player has access to.

What happens if you turn it off for a while then turn it back on because the AI is too far behind? If you say have the Dreadnought technology and the next closest AI only has the Battleship? Doesn’t matter: the moment the new year comes around with AI Challenge Feature active, all regular AI empires will have all missing levels of military ship and station class technology filled in up to the player’s current progression level.

If you’re interested in using this feature, or perhaps just using it now and again when you think the AI isn’t keeping up, simply visit the NSC Features Menu and turn it on for at least one pass of a new year.

NOTICE: The AI Challenge Feature currently doesn’t provide all regular AI empires with the ship upgrade technologies, due to how the coding works for this feature.